


Manhattan...What If?

by Singstar234



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Emma daughter, Emma had twins, Episode: s02e14 Manhattan, Neal daughter, Other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-18
Updated: 2020-04-18
Packaged: 2021-03-02 04:00:53
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,897
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23719369
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Singstar234/pseuds/Singstar234
Summary: What if when Emma found Baelfire, Neal, in New York, he knew about Emma giving birth in prison. Giving birth to twins?
Relationships: Baelfire | Neal Cassidy & Emma Swan, Baelfire | Neal Cassidy/Emma Swan
Comments: 1
Kudos: 19





	Manhattan...What If?

**Author's Note:**

> This is my idea of what could of happened if Emma gave birth to twins instead of just Henry. If you end up liking this be sure to check out my other story: "Quiet Minds...Changed".

"Maybe we met for a reason. Maybe something good came from us being together." Neal told her.

'Henry'. The first thing Emma thought of. Henry was something good, no incredible, that came from them being together. Henry was something she would never give up, not again.

She could feel the slight fear of the unknown. If she told Henry the truth now, about Neal, his father, how would he react? Would he hate her for lying about his father? Would he maybe understand? And then there's Neal. If she told him about Henry, what would he do? She didn't care if he hated her for not telling him, but what if he came into Henry's life and just broke his heart like he did to her?

No, she can't do that to her son. She has to protect him.

"No, not that I can think of." Emma said in a quiet sad voice. Neal nodded slowly with a sad smile on his face. "I just went to jail. That's it."

"That's it?" Neal repeated, almost questioning her.

"That's it." Emma whispered. Neal looked at her, looking like he wasn't believing what she was telling him.

"I think we both know that's not true." He told her. Emma looked at him with confusion as he placed a hand in his coat pocket, pulling out his wallet. After opening it up he pulled out a small picture and slid it over to Emma. Emma pulled the picture closer to her to get a better look. On it was Neal, smiling hard as he held a girl around the same age as Henry, his his arms, hugging her from behind. The girl had bright blond hair ending under her shoulders. Her eyes, they were a direct match to Neal's.

Emma felt her heart almost beat out of her chest when she came to a theory as to who this girl it. Dreading the answer she slowing began to form the words. "I-Is that-"

"My daughter." Neal finished. Emma looked up at Neal with shock written all over her face. "Our daughter." Emma looked back down at the picture and then back to Neal.

How? How could he of even found out? Emma ran though all the questions in her head, and all the answers he may possibly give. She couldn't form the words. She couldn't look at him. Slowly she placed a hand over her mouth and closed her eyes. She could feel Neal's eyes on hers.

After taking a moment she opened her eyes and looked over to Neal, who was staring at her with a neutral face. Take a small breath she got herself ready to ask the questions she needed answers too. "How did you find her?"

"A social worker got in contact with me about 2 months after you had given birth. Apparently they had been trying to get hold of me since the birth but was having trouble finding me. By the time they did our son had already been adopted." Neal explained, sounding a little upset mentioning their son. Emma chose not to comment about him just yet.

"They told me you had given birth and wanted to place the twins up for adoption. Apparently because you had put my name of the birth certificate I had a right to decide if I wanted to keep our daughter since she wasn't adopted yet. So I picked she up from the agency and took her home. She's been with me ever since." Neal told her. Emma took a moment before speaking again.

"What's her name?" Emma asked softly. Neal smiled.

"Hope." He answered. Emma looked at him with tears threatening to form in her eyes.

"Hope?" She repeated in a quiet voice.

_"Oo oo, here's a fun question: 'Where do you see yourself in 5 years?'" Emma read from a card. They were currently in their bug, Emma in the back with Neal at the front facing her playing a game of 'So Card'. They were parked in a old car bark building to avoid the rain that had started a few hours ago, and didn't seem to want to stop._

_"Oh that's a easy question. Mostly likely living in a nice house that I can afford, not eating out of a dumpster." Neal answered._

_"Seriously? I would of said have a million dollars and living in a big mansion." Emma told him. Neal laughed as he shook is head a little._

_"Nah, why would I want all that money when I could just have a affordable house and real food?" Neal said as he scanned through his question cards. Emma gave him a curious look and leaned forward a little._

_"Are you serious?" Emma asked him with a curious smile. Neal looked up._

_"What?" He asked._

_"Do you really see yourself in a nice house with real food?" Emma wondered. Neal gave her a small smile._

_"Why, don't you?" He asked curiously._

_"With how my lives been, I'd be lucky to even get a apartment with more than 1 room." Emma told him. Neal leaned forward to her and grabbed her hand._

_"Come on, that's not the way to look at life. You've just got to have some hope." Neal told her. Emma rolled her eyes._

_"Yeah right." She said as she leaned back. Neal quickly climbed into the back seat with Emma._

_"I'm serious. How do you think I got through some of my parts of my life?" Neal pointed out. Emma gave him a smirk._

_"With a pick lock and brains." Emma answered. Neal smiled at her._

_"Okay, some parts yes, but at first, I had to have hope. Hope, that if you believing in yourself enough, you'll get to where you want to be." Neal told her. Emma looked at him with happy eyes as she smiled at him._

_"Just need to have hope." Emma said._

Emma remembered that memory clear as day. It was one of the happiest moment she has with Neal, even if it had been one of the worst storms they had slept through. Even though they were living in that car she was still happy, because he made her happy by being there and helping her believe in herself more.

"When they put her in my arms, all I saw was you. She look so much like you." Neal told her. Emma looked back down at the picture, seeing that little girl in Neal's arms. "I even tried to find you."

Emma's head shot up at this fact. He tried to find her? She tried to find him, so how is it that neither of them found on another?

"We didn't have a lot of money for a few years. We couldn't move around, couldn't afford it. I got in touch with August shortly after I found Hope, explained the situation. He said he would look into find you and would get in contact with me, on the condition I didn't contact you directly." Neal explained. Emma shook her head.

"He didn't find me. Not until he came to Storybrooke." Emma told him.

"I didn't think he would to be honest. So when we did have then money I looked for you online but never found anything. Only time I did find you was when August told me you had made it to Storybrooke." Neal replied. "At that point I wanted to wait until you had broken the curse to come and find you."

"That was weeks ago. Why didn't you come then?" Emma asked.

"Honestly, I was afraid. Afraid of how you would react to me being there, but most importantly, I was afraid of seeing _him_." Neal said through the grits of his teeth.

"Gold." Emma said quietly.

"I don't want him anywhere near Hope. He's not good news." Neal told her.

"Your right about that, but he's not bad either." Emma told him. Neal looked at her like she was crazy.

"Emma, you don't have any idea what he was like back from where I was from." Neal pointed out, sounding almost afraid.

"I have some idea." Emma replied.

"How?" Neal asked.

"There's a book, it has everyone's story in it. Including the one about you and Gold." Emma answered. She began to think if what she was about to say next, if it would change things even more between her and Neal. About how Henry would react to her. She knew Henry wouldn't like that she lied to him, but if she lies to Neal now, when he's just told her the truth about their daughter then that would make her no good then any villain in this world. "Henry showed it to me."

"Who's Henry?" Neal asked.

"My son." Emma replied. Neal's eyes widened in shock. "Our son."

Neal moved his hands to cover his mouth. He took in some deep breath, looking a little pale. Looking the exact same way Emma had done only a few moments ago when she had found out about Hope.

"Wha- how? I thought he was adopted?" Neal said with confusion. Emma nodded.

"He was. He was adopted by a woman called Regina who lives in Storybrooke. In the Enchanted Forest she was known as the Evil Queen." Emma explained.

"The Evil Queen?" Neal repeated, looking like he was trying to remember who she was back when he was a boy.

"She Snow White, my mother, step mother." Emma explained. Neal rubbed his head.

"This family is messed up." Neal groaned.

"Yeah tell me about it." Emma chuckled. Lifting his head up Neal looked over to Emma.

"Is he back in Storybrooke?" He asked. Emma took a breath before replying.

"No, he's with your father." Emma answered. Neal looked at her like she was mad.

"You left him with my father?" Neal said, sounding almost mad.

"Neal, if I didn't trust Gold with him then there is no way I would of left Henry with him." Emma told him. "Speaking of, I made a deal with your father that I would bring you to him."

"You made a deal with him?" Neal said with slight disbelief.

"Yeah, and I'm upholding my end." Emma replied. Neal sighed as he ran a hand through his hair, thinking. Looking up his eyes caught the time on the clock. His eyes widened.

"Shoot. Hope finishes school in 10 minuets." Neal said as he quickly jumped to his feet. Emma follows his lead.

"What do I tell Gold? Are you going to come with me or not?" Emma asked. Neal thought for moment.

"I take it you know where my place is." Neal said. Emma nodded. "There's another key under the mat. Go to the apartment and I'll meet you there with Hope."

"What are you going to tell her?" Emma asked, sounding nervous.

"The truth. That your here with my father and her brother." Neal told her. "Are you going to tell Henry?" Emma hesitated for a moment. Neal noticed this. "Are you not going to tell him about me?"

"I did once. I lied." Emma told him. "I told him you were dead." Neal looked away from her, looking a little frustrated. "I'll tell him the truth."

"I can understand why you would lie to him, Emma. But that doesn't mean I'm happy that you did." Neal told her. Emma kept quiet, unsure of what to say next. Neal began to walk out of the bar, Emma right behind him. "Go back to my place. Me and Hope will be there soon."

Neal took a right turn, the opposite way Emma needed to go. Emma watched him as he crossed the road and got out of her sight. Deep down, a part of her wished that this would be the last time she would see him, but at the same time know that he was bringing back their daughter, all she wanted was for him to return with her.

**XxxxxxX**

Emma made her way back down the street to where she had left Henry and Gold. She tried to look as confident as possible when the pair came into view. Henry rushed up to her with Gold being him.

"What happened? Where is he?" Gold asked, not sounding to happy.

"I caught up to him. He had something to deal with. He said to meet him in his apartment." Emma explained.

"And you believe he'll come back?" Gold asked with slight sarcasm.

"Yes I do. He'll come back. Trust me." Emma told him.

"Oh he better, because if he doesn't, and if you broke our deal-" Gold threatened her as he took a step closer.

"He'll come." Emma said with frustration. "We just need to wait up stairs.

Emma lead Henry and Gold up to the apartment. Lifting up the matt Neal was right and there was a spare key underneath. As the door opened Gold immediately moved into the room just as Emma stepped in. Emma held the door open for Henry to come in before closing the door.

"How long did he say he would be?" Gold asked. Emma turned around, seeing Gold standing not far from her, Henry was looking around the room.

"He just said he'd be back as soon as possible." Emma told him. Gold chose to except that and began to look round the room himself. Emma looked away from Gold and over to the window next to him. There something caught her eye. She quickly moved forward and took hold of the dreamcatcher that hung from the window. She held it in both hands delicately, almost like the item would break if she held it to hard.

"What did you find?" Emma looked up to see Gold staring at her.

"Nothing. Its just a dreamcatcher." Emma answered.

"If it's nothing then why are you still holding it?" Gold asked. Emma held the dreamcatcher closer to her, almost like she was protecting it. Golds eyes widened as he thought of something.

"Did he say something to you?" He asked threatening as he stepped forward.

"No-he-we-" Emma sighed in frustration. She looked over to Henry who was looking at pictures on the wall in the other room. "Its complicated."

"How so?" Gold asked in a curious voice, but still sounding threatening.

"I knew him." Emma answered. Golds eyes widened.

"What?" He whispered. "How?" Just as Emma went to reply another voice cut her off.

"Mum, look!" Emma walked passed Gold and into the other room. There were 2 bed on opposite ends of the room. One wall was covered in different pictures, that were well drawn, by a kid. She then looked further down the wall to see a couple of pictures stuck to the wall. They were of Neal and Hope again. "Is that Baelfire?" Henry asked.

Emma sat down of the bed and took one of the photos. This one was on Neal holding Hope up on his waist. She looked around 9 years old in this picture. Emma nodded. "Yes it is." Looking up she saw Gold looking down at her, or trying to get a good look at the picture.

"Then who's that? Does he have a daughter?" Henry asked. Emma took a breath, getting herself ready for the conversation that she was dreading to have with him.

"Henry, there's something you need to know." She told him. Henry looked at her with confusion.

"What is it?" He wondered. Emma patted on the bed to a spot next to her. Henry walked over and took a seat on the bed next to her. Emma placed a hand on her leg, giving it a soft squeeze.

"Its about your father, Henry." Emma told him. "I lied to you, about who he is." Henry looked at her with confusion.

"I-I don't understand? You lied? Why?" Henry asked.

"Because he was a thief, and he broke my heart. I never thought I would see him again." Emma explained.

"But you have seen him again?" Henry said.

"Yes." Emma answered. She took a small breath in before answering. "Baelfire, this man, he's your father." Henry's eyes widened as he looked down at the picture.

"Then who's that? With him?" Henry asked as he pointed to the picture.

"That's your twin sister. Hope." Emma told him. Henry looked up at her looking even more shocked. "I was going to tell you about her when you were older. I only just found out that your father found her. I put you both up for adoption, but after Regina adopted you people were able to find you dad and let him raise Hope."

"So, I have a sister." Henry said as he looked back down at the picture. Emma nodded slowly.

"Yes, you do." Emma said back.

"I could of taken it you know, the truth." Henry told her.

"I am so sorry that I lied to you Henry. You sister, I was going to tell you about, I promise." Emma said with certainty.

"Where are they now?" Henry asked.

"Your father's gone to pick Hope up from school and then he's coming here." Emma explained. Henry nodded. Emma looked up and saw Gold wandering around in the other room. "Can you stay here for a moment? I just need to speak with Mr Gold."

Henry nodded. Emma gave Henry a kiss on her head before standing up and making her way back into the other room. Gold turned to her, looking a little surprised. Emma slowly approached him. "So, you and my son-"

"Don't need to say anything else Gold." Emma told him as she walked past him and over to the fire escape.

"Judging form the way you were looking at that dreamcatcher there you both were close. Well, close enough to have twins that is." Gold said as he gestured to the other room.

"Your right Gold. We were close. Closer than anyone I have ever been with before. I loved him, and he broke my heart. And that's it." Emma told him.

"Is it?" Gold asked.

"Yes, Gold." Emma said with frustration. "Look, non of that matters anyway. The point is-" Emma was cut of by the sound of keys unlocking the door. Emma and Gold stopped what they were doing and looked over to the door, watching as it slowly opened.

Neal was the first to appear. His eyes met Emma's first before they turned to Gold. His expression changed suddenly, a flicker of fright was just noticed by Emma, before he turned around. He stood back as another person walked through the door. This time it was a young girl. She wore a blue coat with a red and white checkered shirt and a white top on underneath. She wore light blue jeans and trainers while carrying a lavender backpack. Her long blond hair fell over her shoulders.

It was Hope.

Emma couldn't take her eyes of the daughter she hadn't seen in 11 years. The daughter she never looked at once giving birth. The she had dreams about for months, just like she did with Henry, while still serving her sentence. All she could do was continue to stare as Hope looked back at her with her green eyes. Neal's eyes.

"Can we talk in the other room?" Emma broke out of her gaze thanks to Neal's voice. Emma looked up seeing him staring at her.

"Um, yeah, sure." Emma said, sounding unfocused. Emma quickly went into the other room to prepare Henry. Neal began to guide Hope towards their bedroom when Gold decided to make his move.

"Bae." Gold whispered, wanting to reach out to him. Neal quickly pulled back, making sure to move his daughter first.

"No, no I'll deal with you in a moment." Neal told him before quickly moving Hope away from his father and into the other room. As Neal entered the room his eyes drifted to Henry, who had quickly looked over from Emma to Neal and Hope. Neal took a seat on his bed with Hope so the 2 parents and twins were facing each other. Emma and Neal stared at one another and then at the child opposite them, unsure of how to start this.

"Hi." Hope said quietly as she waved to Henry. Henry smiled a little and waved back to Hope.

"Hi." He said back. Emma smiled down at Henry. Neal smiled too. He turned to Hope.

"Hope, this is Emma. You mum." Neal introduced. Hope waved to her mother, looking a little shy.

"Hi." Hope said softly. Emma smiled at the young girl, trying to not seem to frightening.

"Hi Hope, its lovely to meet you." Emma said gently. She placed a hand on Henry's shoulder. "This is your twin brother, Henry." Hope gave a small smile to Henry, who happily returned it.

"Hope, I need to go and speak to that man for a few moments. Are you okay staying here with Emma and Henry?" Neal asked as he looked down at Hope. Hope nodded. "Okay, I'll be right in the other room if you need me."

As Neal stood up and began to leave the room, Emma quickly decided to try and get Hope and bit more comfortable round her and Henry. "These drawing on the wall, did you draw them?" Hope nodded. "They're really good."

"I've got a book with more drawing in, would you like to see?" Hope asked sounding not as shy as before.

"Yes defiantly." Emma said with a big smile. Hope smiled some more as she stood up and walked over to the bed they were sitting on. She knelt down and pulled out a large notebook. Once up again she took a seat next to Henry and opened up the book. Inside were drawings of flowers, animals, building, some of what looked like are self portraits of her and Neal.

"I'm not very good at drawing people." Hope admitted.

"Well you're trying, that's what counts." Emma encouraged her. Hope smiled more before turning back to the book. She then turned to a page dedicated to dragons.

"Cool! You like dragons?" Henry said with excitement. Hope nodded.

"I really like the fantasy world. With dragons, knights, fairies and all different magical creatures." Hope said with a big smile on her face. Emma gave Hope a curious look.

"What did your father tell you about where me and Henry are from?" Emma asked.

"That you live in a place where fairytale characters are living." Hope answered in a simple voice. Emma raised an eyebrow to her.

"And you believed him?" Emma asked curiously. Hope nodded.

"Dad's never lied to me before. I thought he was joking a first but then he told me his story and where he came from. And growing up he would tell be bedtime stories about his life at my age, I just didn't know it was his story." Hope explained.

"What was your favourite story he told you?" Henry asked.

Emma stopped listening as Hope began to tell Henry about some of her favourite stories Neal had told her growing up. She took hold of the drawing book from Hope's lap and continued to look through the different drawings. After seeing the dragon pages she started to see pages with what looked like knights, female warriors, swords, bow and arrows. She especially liked the picture of a woman standing proud with a sword on her hip holding a bow and arrow.

As Emma flipped through more pages of the art book she felt something tap her arm. Looking down she saw Hope's eyes on her. "Sorry did you say something?"

"Is it true that you went through a magic portal?" Hope asked. Emma nodded as she closed the book.

"Yes it's true. I fell through it with my, urr, my mum." Emma said, sounding a little off calling Mary Margret 'mum'. Hope looked at her with wide eyes.

"What was the land like you went to? Were there fairy tale creatures?" Hope asked in awe.

"Well, I did face a ogre. And I also climbed a beanstalk and met a giant." Emma told her. Hope began to look more excited.

"As in a beanstalk from 'Jack and the Beanstalk' stories?" Hope asked with a big smile.

"Sort off, but there was no Jack that we met. I had to go up to find a magic compass to get me and my mum home." Emma explained. Hope grinned hard.

"What else? What fairy tale characters are in Storybrooke?" Hope wondered.

"Many, to many to remember if I'm being honest." Emma answered. Henry then turned to her.

"Well the man we brought with us was Rumpelstiltskin." Henry said. Hope looked at him with confusion.

"Rumpelstiltskin? I never new his story. Dad didn't like me reading that book growing up." Hope told them.

"I'm sure he had his reasons." Emma told her.

"There's also Snow White and Prince Charming. Those are mum's parents." Henry said gesturing Emma, who shifted in her seat. Hope looked at Emma with wide eyes.

"You're parents are Snow White and Prince Charming?" Hope repeated.

"Yeah." Emma answered.

"Does she talk to animals and sing with birds like she does in movies?" Hope asked. Emma could help but let out a laugh, remember the old movies on Snow White.

"Ha! No, if anything the opposite. She's pretty good with a bow and arrow for one." Emma explained. Hope's eyes lit up.

"Like me!" Hope said with joy. "Dad once for a treat for my birthday took me to a archery lesson they were having at a hall for the week. I was getting the arrow in the middle a lot."

"Sounds like you'd be good at fighting of a ogre if there ever was one in Storybrooke." Emma commented.

"Are you good at archery?" Hope asked. Emma shook her head.

"I'm better with a sword." Emma told her.

"Same! I've been practising sword fighting with grandpa David." Henry said with a big smile.

"That's so cool! Do you think he could teach me too?" Hope asked curiously.

"I think he would love to." Emma told her. As Hope and Henry continued to talk her eyes drifted to the living room. She saw Neal walking away from Gold and towards them. Emma slowly stood up and made her way over to Neal.

"How is she?" Neal asked.

"A little shy at first, but she opened up quickly." Emma commented.

"Yeah, she's like that sometimes. After knowing someone for a few minuets she's not as shy around them, as long as she gets a good vibe from them." Neal explained. Emma gave him a curious look.

"'Vibe'?" She asked.

"She gets feelings around people, she calls them vibes, whether she feels comfortable round them or not." Neal told her. Emma looked a little impressed.

"Huh, like my power to tell when people are lying." Emma pointed out.

"I thought that's where she got it from." Neal commented. The pair looked over to the twins, who where both in deep conversation. Emma looked over to Neal, who had kept his eyes on his kids, Emma could properly guess which one her was looking at the most.

"He want's to meet you." Emma said with a sigh. Neal looked over to Emma. He took a few moments before talking back.

"Tell me something, if I hadn't of found Hope, but you still found me, would you of told me about them?" Neal asked. Emma kept her eyes on him, a part of her feeling guilty about what she was about to say.

"No, I wouldn't have." Emma answered. Neal nodded, taking the painful answer in.

"I'll be on the fire escape. I can't be in the same room as him." Neal said as he looked over to Gold, who was standing in the corner, before making his way over to the window. Emma took in a deep breath before making her way back over to Henry and Hope.

"Hey Henry," Emma began as she walked over to them, "Neal, you dad, he's on the fire escape if you want to go talk to him now."

"Okay." Henry answered as he stood up from the bed. Emma took the seat Henry had just left and watched her son climb threw the window.

"Emma?" Hope said. Emma looked down at her daughter.

"Yes?" She asked.

"Did you ever think about me?" Hope asked. Emma gave her a small smile.

"Every day. I thought about you, and your brother." Emma answered her.

"So why did you give us up?" Hope wondered. "I've asked dad in the past but he's always said that he couldn't answer that."

"Because I couldn't take care of you both from how I was at the time. I wanted you both to have the best chances you could at a good life." Emma told her. Hope shifted in her seat a little, looking a little nervous. Emma caught this and looked at her curiously. "What's the matter?"

"Can I call you 'mum'?" Hope asked in a shy tone. Emma felt tears in the back of her eyes, trying her best to keep them at bay. Emma gave her a short nod.

"Of course you can." Emma told her. Hope gave her a big smile before throwing her arms round her. Emma returned the hug and held her daughter in her arms, refusing to ever let her go. Ever again.


End file.
